Marathon Training Week 2: Easy (Miles) Lover

The easy running continued last week in this base-building phase of training, where the focus is on time on my feet and building up mileage. I’m looking forward to adding workouts in a few weeks, but right now I’m enjoying the easy miles. I know I’m unlike many runners, but I love easy running! A couple noteworthy things from the week:

As my mileage inches up, so does my hunger. I’m surprised given my mileage is still pretty low. However, I’m still in weight-loss mode on Weight Watchers (11 pounds down!), so maybe I’ve reached my threshold on how much I can eat and stay satisfied while increasing mileage. I made a few adjustments to my eating last week that I’ll post about separately. If that doesn’t keep me satisfied this week, I’ll switch to weight maintenance. I know I need to do that eventually; it’s just mentally difficult to stop actively trying to lose weight when I continue to lose.

My easy pace at the same low heart rate zone has gotten faster, about 1:00/mile, on most days. I noticed this on a few runs and thought it was due to the cooler temps. But the humidity was back last week, and my pace stayed about the same. Maybe all that easy running in my low heart rate zones I did for the past few months is finally showing up as an improvement in my easy pace?

Here’s how last week shook out.

Week at a Glance

Training mode: Training for the NCR Marathon November 25, 2017 using the Hansons Marathon Method

Days running: 5

Miles this week: 23.1

Time running: 4:59

Miles this training cycle: 43.6

Miles in July: 77.15

Miles this month: 19.1

Miles this year: 558.04

Strength training: 3 sessions

Monday

Easy run: 4 miles

I had the day off work so slept in a bit and headed out later. So this is what the sun looks like! says dark-morning runner me.

Tuesday

Easy run: 4 miles + 30 minutes strength training

Wednesday

Easy run: 5 miles

This was my longest weekday run in a long time, and I was starving in my last mile. I’ll need to start consuming more simple carbs pre-run as this weekday run increases.

In the evening Dave and I went to the new vegan B-52 restaurant in Lawrenceville and then to Hop Farm Brewery down the street. B-52 has a Mediterranean theme. We got fried cauliflower as an appetizer, and I got moussaka as my main course. It was so good that I couldn’t stop to take a picture before digging in. They also have vegan baked goods, but I didn’t get dessert. The food was great, but the space itself is small and cramped. I’ll definitely go there again but will get it to go.

Thursday

Rest day + 30 minutes strength training

Friday

Easy run: 3 miles

Saturday

“Easy” run: 7.1 miles

I met up with the Pro Bike and Run group for 7 miles. It was only 60, no humidity, and actually chilly in the morning. Perfect! The route was 6 miles, so I did 1 mile by myself before the run started. The first Saturday runs in my plan call for these to be easy miles before they become workouts at a faster pace later in the plan. For easy runs, I join the 12:00 pace group, which typically averages 12:30-13:00. This Saturday, the ladies in the 12:00 group thought they might be doing run-walk intervals, which I didn’t want to do. So instead I joined the 11:30 group, hoping they’d be closer to a 12:00 pace. The first 2 miles were 11:52 and 11:45, and while it wasn’t an easy pace, it felt comfortable. Our route included a very gradual climb into Oakland, with the last part a huge hill. That mile was rough. The group was continuing past the turnaround point for more miles, but Joanna and I were turning around. So once we left the group I put on the brakes and we did the second half of the run slower. Hello positive split, but given this was supposed to be an easy run, I wanted to do at least part actually easy. Another highlight from the run was that I got to meet Insta-friend Tonya in real life!

I need to figure out my game plan for long runs. Neither pace group is a good fit for me, with one group being a little too fast and the other group a little too slow, but I hate to do my long runs on my own. I posted a question on the Hansons online coaching site, so I hope to get an answer before this weekend.

Scenes from the Saturday group runHappy to share the miles with JoannaOof! A little tired after the run!

After I got home and showered, I walked Django over to West Park for Pittsburgh Veg Fest, a vegan food festival. I know from years past that it gets crazy crowded, and my favorite vegan food truck Onion Maiden usually has super long lines and runs out of food early. I was determined to get there early, so we hustled over. I got to the Onion Maiden food truck exactly 9 minutes after it opened. There was already a line of about 25 people, and Veg Fest was packed!

Onion Maiden’s menu

After I got ate my lunch from Onion Maiden (vegan hot dogs with cashew cheese and lentil chili, plus a vegan Twinkie), I met up with Gretchen who was there and about to eat her lunch. It was nice to catch up with her!

As Django and I were leaving, he caught sight of some greyhounds, who were there representing one of Pittsburgh’s four greyhound adoption groups. We went over to say hi, and of course Django was beside himself with excitement like he usually is when he sees other greyhounds. I also ran into a woman I worked with about 15 years ago! Django did not want to leave Veg Fest because of all the food smells and the greyhounds, so I had to coerce him into leaving. That walk was a little over 1.5 miles round-trip.

After I got home, I went right out again with Dave to walk to Downtown for the Regatta. The Flugtag event was going on, where teams attempted to fly hand-made flying machines. It was entertaining, but every single one we saw pretty much nosedived into the river. I don’t have a good shot, but you can see all the crowds watching. I do love that we can walk to so many places from our house. I don’t like crowds, so if I couldn’t walk to the Regatta, I’m sure I wouldn’t have gone.

That walk was a little over 3 miles. By the time I got home, now with a little more than 11.5 miles on my feet for the day, I was wiped out and jumped right into bed for a nap.

Sunday

Rest day + 25 minutes strength training

Yes! I got my third strength training session in for the week. I hope I can continue the momentum. The afternoon was cloudy and cool–my idea of perfect weather!–so we took Django to Settler’s Cabin Park for a short hike. Of course the blazes didn’t match the trail map, so we ended up somewhere completely different than where we planned to go. But the trails are pretty short so it was fine in the end, and when you’re walking in the woods, you really can’t complain.

And that’s a wrap! My upcoming week will be more of the same–all easy runs with a slight increase in miles.

I’m linking up with Holly from HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for their Weekly Wrap, Steff, for the Pittsburgh Run Bloggers Weekly Recap, and Courtney for her Training Recap. Have a great week!

What a great week for you! Congrats on the weight loss and the easy pace change. That’s awesome 🙂

I need to find this onion maiden truck! It is my new mission. The food sounds really good. And how fun that you went to the flugtag. I wanted to go but we came home and crashed on the couch between races on Saturday. Keep up the good work!Sara recently posted…Great Race and UBHM Training Week 1

I just learned that Onion Maiden now has a permanent location in the Allentown neighborhood? They also have a small cafe in partnership with another vegan restaurant in Oakland, but I think the hours are odd. I went there a few times when I worked in Oakland, and it was very good.

I always think it’s hard to find good long run groups. Some people like to race their long runs every single week and that’s exhausting! When I’m out on a long run, unless I have goal race pace miles in there somewhere, I take it very easy. I hope you find a group you can run with that matches your pace better!Christine @ Into the Glimmer recently posted…3 goals for August

I agree that it can be tough to find a good match for group runs. For this group, the whole group sticks together for safety reasons and so no one has to run alone. I love that mentality, but it means that you do have to go with the pace that everyone else is running.

Sounds like a great week! And that’s great that your easy runs are faster now but in the same heart rate zone. I have to admit I’ve been enjoying the easy runs in the Summer 🙂Chaitali recently posted…Heart Rate Training week 10

That vegfest sounds so fun. There’s one in Dallas, but it’s always in Oct, and we’re always out of town. Maybe next year I will manage to plan around it b/c I’d love to go.Carina recently posted…Sticked

I’ve run at Settlers lots of times as well as done hikes there and I STILL can’t seem to figure out the trails. The map just does not match up to the blazes and the like. So I usually just run to “halfway” and then turn around.

For a hike I’m willing to explore a bit more, but I still get lost there.

Ha! Good to know. I’m going to give Settlers another chance–I think I at least have the purple loop figured out (not the loop I planned to hike), but at least they’re short enough that I don’t think (read: really hope) I don’t get too lost.

Congrats on the 11 pounds down. You are looking so cute in your skirts and shorts. I think that sticking with the heart rate training will definitely pay off. I hope you’ll keep that up. It is so much fun to meet people in real life!

Thanks! Yes, the fueling/eating more than I need to has already proven a big challenge for me in this training cycle. All I can do is keep trying to be keep my eating in check. It’s becoming harder and harder as my miles go up!

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Running is no fun if you don't look cute doing it! In this blog I share my passion for running and activewear. I'm chronicling my ever-evolving journey as a runner. I also post activewear reviews, healthy plant-based recipes, and pictures of my greyhound and kitties. Read more about me. Thanks for visiting!